World's best women's rugby squads primed to play in WXV 1 tournament in Vancouver

Tyson Beukeboom doesn't remember exactly where she was the moment her friends won Olympic silver at the Paris Games this summer.

All she remembers is what it felt like to watch the women's rugby sevens squad climb onto the podium.

"I was enthralled," said the captain of Canada's women's 15s team. "I hope the rest of Canada was as well."

As the country's most-capped women's rugby player, Beukeboom has known many of the sevens players for a long time.

Now Beukeboom hopes some of the Olympic enthusiasm carries over as the third-ranked Canadians host the world's best for WXV 1, starting this weekend.

The tournament will mark the first time international women's 15s is played at Vancouver's BC Place, and several teams — including Canada — feature players who saw action in Paris.

"We get to see some of those stars coming over, on more than one team," said Beukeboom. "So I hope people are still excited from the silver medal and get out to come watch, and then hopefully we're going to take this one home as well."

Now in its second year, the WXV is a three-tiered tournament, with teams in the top division coming from the top three finishers in the Pacific Four Series (Canada. New Zealand and the United States) and Women's Six Nations Championship (England, France and Ireland).

Each team plays a unique style, said England's Zoe Aldcroft.

"We look at Canada, super fit. They can keep going and going and going. We look at New Zealand, they're super flaring, like magical with how they play. And then you look at France who are super physical and you've got to really, really get up for having a hardcore arm wrestle with those guys," she said.

"So there's so many different styles. And that's the exciting thing about rugby, because each